Chapter 27: Bar, Maybe Not A Bad Choice
The next day.
Still the same restaurant spot, but the time changed from afternoon to 8 a.m. the next morning.
A Mercedes-Benz GLS slowly pulled up to the roadside, then a short-haired young girl who had been waiting there stepped forward, opened the front passenger car door, and got in.
As the car door closed again, the GLS picked up speed, leaving this side as quickly as possible and heading toward the highway entrance.
Inside the car.
Yoo Jimin got into the car and glanced at Lin Xiuyuan, who was focused on driving. Today’s him, compared to yesterday’s patterned hoodie, appeared even more simple.
Although still a hoodie style, it had no patterns at all, a pure black design paired with a white T-shirt inside, creating a clean layered effect.
The lower half was classic washed vintage jeans, and the overall outfit looked simple and elegant, steady without being cumbersome, giving a comfortable sense of security.
His face was still handsome, but that simple and capable temperament involuntarily made people feel a reliable sense of security.
Noticing Yoo Jimin’s gaze, Lin Xiuyuan relaxed a bit after turning onto the main road, then looked to the side. “To be honest, yesterday was our first time meeting, right? How did you dare to just get in my car and head straight to a city hundreds of kilometers away? Weren’t you afraid I was a bad guy?”
“Bad guys don’t say they’re bad guys.” Yoo Jimin replied softly.
Lin Xiuyuan smiled and continued, “What if I guessed you’d think that and did the opposite?”
“Ah?”
Yoo Jimin didn’t react right away.
Although her group had a Chinese person, this kind of saying required some Chinese literary background, so she didn’t understand it for a moment.
It wasn’t until after Lin Xiuyuan’s explanation that she shyly turned her head to look outside the window, feeling a bit embarrassed.
After a good while, she calmed her mood and replied, “Mainly because I know you’re friends with Krystal senior and Jessica senior, and you’re going to visit Sulli senior, so I felt like you shouldn’t be that kind of bad guy.”
“Just that reason is enough for you to trust a man?” Lin Xiuyuan asked in some surprise.
“It’s not just that.”
Seated Yoo Jimin gazed somewhat dazedly ahead. “Senior, what do you think of my short hair? Doesn’t it look a lot like one of Sulli senior’s old styles?”
Hmm?
Lin Xiuyuan was slightly startled because he did have that feeling, which was why he thought of going there.
And Yoo Jimin’s voice continued, “Actually, the teacher who styled this look for me was the same one who did Sulli senior’s style back then, so while she was working on mine, we chatted about Sulli senior, and she said she wanted to visit her when she had time, but work was too busy and she couldn’t find the time.”
No wonder it felt so similar.
Lin Xiuyuan muttered to himself, but still felt puzzled. “So what does that have to do with you? Isn’t it that teacher’s issue?”
“Not directly related…” Yoo Jimin exhaled softly. “I just suddenly really wanted to go see her, like a reminder to myself, a warning.”
As she said this, her gaze was no longer hazy like usual, but exceptionally clear and firm.
With that, the topic ended.
Lin Xiuyuan looked at this current top Kpop girl group member with some surprise. It seemed even with such popularity, she couldn’t escape some external troubles.
And her reason was already more than enough.
The car was still driving, soon leaving the city area streets, getting on the highway, and heading straight to the destination.
At this point, after the topic ended, the car fell into brief silence.
Yoo Jimin secretly glanced at Lin Xiuyuan, feeling the atmosphere a bit heavy, so taking the chance during an overtaking maneuver, she spoke up. “Senior, I still don’t know your name or what you do.”
Hearing the question, Lin Xiuyuan laughed again. “You dared to get in the car without knowing? Is Krystal’s face that valuable? Does she give you that much sense of security?”
“My intuition says you’re not.”
Facing Yoo Jimin’s statement, Lin Xiuyuan thought of something and first asked her back, “By the way, how old are you?”
“25.”
Yoo Jimin stated it straightforwardly; at this age in her youth, she didn’t avoid it at all.
Lin Xiuyuan chuckled lightly upon hearing it. “Then you’re older than me, but I’m not calling you with honorifics. You don’t need to call me senior either. I’m Lin Xiuyuan, I know Krystal and them, but I’m not in your circle.”
“Ah, really?”
Yoo Jimin was stunned upon hearing it. The senior she’d been calling since yesterday was actually younger than her?
Seeing her reaction, Lin Xiuyuan continued smiling and added, “What, do I look that old?”
Turning her head to look, Yoo Jimin saw his handsome face and those unusually captivating eyes.
She slowly shook her head. “Not exactly, just a bit surprised. I thought someone who could hang out with two big seniors would be around their age, just looking a little younger.”
“No, I’m just 22.”
Lin Xiuyuan thought about how he dropped out of university, came over to work for a year, and was now the age of a fresh graduate.
This time, he didn’t deceive her like he did Jessica yesterday with the fifth-generation thing, because joking with a sister ten years older was fine, but saying it to someone around his age would be sexual harassment.
Sure enough, upon hearing Lin Xiuyuan’s age, Yoo Jimin immediately got excited. “22, then you have to call me noona, right?”
In response, Lin Xiuyuan said again, “Refuse. I just said I won’t use honorifics with you. By the way, I’m Chinese, like Ningning in your group, so you should know we’re not used to that over there.”
“Mm, got it. Yeah, Ningning wasn’t used to the rules here at first either, and slowly got accustomed later. But I don’t mind, I’m not that particular about it. Actually, chatting without honorifics feels more comfortable.”
After saying that, Yoo Jimin started getting curious again about how Lin Xiuyuan knew Krystal and them.
This question made Lin Xiuyuan slightly silent.
Because no matter which world, explaining these relationships to outsiders was always tricky; he couldn’t just tell them about the time-space door.
So after pausing for a few seconds, Lin Xiuyuan finally replied, “Because I opened a small bar, and got to know Krystal and them who came to drink one time by chance.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
With that said, the book from 《Solve Worries Convenience Store》 surfaced in his mind once more, along with that evening’s chat and thoughts with Jung Soo Yeon.
Perhaps opening a real bar was a good choice.
Whether to conceal relationships and identity, or just to have something to do, opening a bar was a good option.
